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By Aris Mpitziopoulos published 4 March 21

To mine 24/7, you need a robust PSU.

Cryptocurrency Mining has become extremely popular again lately, with many people looking to optimize their existing GPUs for mining or looking to buy the best GPUs for mining. Some are even wondering how to mine on a Raspberry Pi. No matter what currency you go for, the market is extremely volatile and the costs of electricity and hardware are prohibitive for many people. You could end up losing a lot of money while dramatically expanding your carbon footprint. 

But if you’ve made the decision to mine with your PC, you need a powerful and robust power supply to keep the current flowing to your graphics card(s). While we maintain a list of the best PSUs for gaming, the qualities you should look for in a mining power supply are a little different.  

When evaluating power supplies to see whether they are good for mining, consider the following requirements: 

While it’s not required, it’s good to have a PSU that comes with a minimum one-year warranty that covers 24/7 operation under full load at 30-35°C. That way, if your PSU gives out within the first 12 months, you can recoup your investment. 

The most important requirements involve efficiency and build quality. For maximum endurance and performance, we recommend using your PSU with 230V input whenever possible. Besides 1-2%-higher efficiency, this also reduces the amperage passing through the AC power cord by half, reducing stress on the cable. If you live in a region with 115V mains and can afford the installation of 230V sockets in your home, use them for your mining ventures.

The Fractal Design Ion+ 560P has good performance, silent operation, and high efficiency. It is among the very few units in this wattage category, having four PCIe connectors to support up to two graphics cards with double PCIe sockets. Finally, the Ion+ 560P is one of the quietest PSUs that we have evaluated so far; its overall noise output is lower than 12 dB(A)!

Read: Fractal Design Ion+ 560 Review

Alternative Mining PSUs in the 550W range:

The Seasonic Focus Plus Platinum (PX) with 650W max power is a  high-performance PSU offering impressive efficiency and quiet operation. It stays really cool and uses a fully-modular design that helps you avoid using extra cables. Seasonic backs it with a 10-year warranty.

Read: Seasonic Focus 650 Platinum Review 

The XPG Core Reactor is a high-performance power supply with good build quality and high efficiency levels. It is among the few PSUs in this category offering six PCIe connectors, so it is ideal for mining use. 

It might not have the best overall performance in this category, but the FSP Hydro G PRO 850W Gold  has good high build quality. And it is one of the few PSUs that use a 3,000h lifetime bulk cap. Its cooling fan is also top-notch since it is provided by Protechnic Electric and uses a fluid dynamic bearing. 

Read: FSP Hydro G PRO 850W Review

Corsair's AX1000 is one of the best 1kW power supplies available. This beastly PSU offers tight load regulation on its rails, exceptional ripple suppression, and crazy-high efficiency levels. Its transient response is impressive, and this is what matters the most for energy-hungry parts (CPUs and GPUs). 

Read: Corsair AX1000 Titanium Review

This PSU is made by Delta, one of the best and most expensive PSU manufacturers. It uses top-quality parts and a double-ball bearing fan which can withstand lots of abuse. It is loaded with cables and connectors, and a hefty warranty supports it.

 Read: CoolerMaster V1300 Platinum Review

A super high-quality power supply from be quiet! with top efficiency and loads of connectors, the Dark Power Pro 1500 can handle harsh operating conditions without breaking a sweat. If it had a double-ball bearing fan, it would be even better for mining, but on the other hand, it would also make more noise and be quiet! is well known for its low-noise products.

Read: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 1500 Review

SilverStone Decathlon DA1650 Gold: Gets cut because it doesn't have an accurate power-ok signal. That said, this is a great PSU overall: powerful, efficient, and with twelve PCIe connectors. Connectors: 2x EPS, 12x PCIe  

Thermaltake Toughpower DPS G RGB 1500W Titanium: It doesn't meet our requirements because of the inaccurate power ok signal. And this is a shame because it is a good PSU. It has eight PCIe connectors available, and its build quality is high. Connectors: 2x EPS, 10x PCIe   

Thermaltake ToughPower PF1 ARGB 1200 Platinum: It doesn't meet our requirements because of its inaccurate power ok signal. But it has high performance, good build quality, is efficient at normal loads, and has eight PCIe connectors. Connectors: 2x EPS, 8x PCIe  

Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB 1200W Platinum: This is another PSU that fails to meet our expectations because of an inaccurate power ok signal. But it's efficient, offers good overall performance and provides an HDB fan and eight PCIe connectors. Connectors: 2x EPS, 8x PCIe  

Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 750W Platinum: This high-performance power supply from Thermaltake doesn't make it to the list because it doesn't have an MOV in its transient filter. If you combine it with a surge protector, you will solve this issue. Connectors: 2x EPS, 4x PCIe 

Based on our testing, we have a table of recent-generation GPUs and approximately how much power they use while mining. You might be surprised to learn that they don’t necessarily need to use their peak power while mining because they don’t need to maintain maximum clock speeds to get good mining performance. 

Many miners underclock and undervolt their graphics cards to keep the stress and power consumption as low as possible. This allows even smaller-capacity PSUs to power a pair of high-power GPUs without any issues. For maximum efficiency, you should keep the load at around 50-60% of the PSU’s rated capacity so a 1,000W PSU should be using no more than 600W if possible. Keep in mind that the numbers below are only for the GPU and do not include other components such as the CPU, storage drives, RAM, cooling and motherboard.

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor at Tom's Hardware US, covering PSUs.

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